Canadian musician Patrick Watson has been out of the limelight for a few years, strengthening a brand of chamber pop which won him the Polaris Music Prize for 2006's "Close To Paradise." Forgoing the typical studio atmosphere, Watson instead recorded new record "Adventures In Your Own Backyard" in... his backyard. The result is an album that feels less rehearsed, more intimate and still filled with soaring instrumentation that takes off into the sky.

Enjoy this slideshow of Metric performing in the UBS Forum. We'll air the full session Tuesday, June 12 at 5 p.m.

The Chalice may be a new collective, but the three emcees who make it up - Sophia Eris, Claire De Lune and Lizzo - are well-known in the local music community both here and outside the region. Bringing a much needed light to female-fronted hip-hop, the trio mixes whip-smart raps, crisp production and clever imagery to create songs that don't plan on leaving your head anytime soon.

It's been two years since Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros put out their last album "Up From Below" and had the hit song of the year with "Home." Since that time, the collective has gained several new members, toured all over the world and now have a new album, "Here."

M. Ward has been extremely busy the past few years: recording and touring with several side projects like She and Him and Monsters of Folk, producing bands and putting out two solo records. Somehow he's remained calm and thoughtful through it all and has been able to balance his life. This introspection and calm resonates in his latest album "A Wasteland Companion," with Ward's smoky voice covering topics of love and loss.

Here We Go Magic may be one of the most impressive live bands you'll ever see. Throughout the past three years, they've refined their craft for rhythm, creating a sonic landscape on stage that makes jaws drop and bodies move. The results are bombastic and genre-defying, although one reviewer recently coined their style as a blend of kraut folk rock, and that might be the closest we'll get to an appropriate description.

The Hypstrz were considered one of the purveyors of cool in the Twin Cities during the late '70s and early '80s, helping to pave the way for some of our most beloved bands like The Suicide Commandos and The Suburbs. Hypstrz had a different niche though: reworking '60s classics into an idiosyncratic, full-out garage rock and punk experiment. And while they didn't immediately get the attention they deserved, the band has now gone down in the history books of Minnesota music.

If there's one artist in the Twin Cities who has steadily increased their recognition and popularity, it's probably MaLLy. Malik Watkins is only in his mid-20s, but his reputation has been bolstered by encouragement from the Rhymesayers crew and old friends from the high-school days that now collaborate with him side-by-side.

Local duo Bloodnstuff has been gathering accolades the past few months for their raucous live show. While many might think they're a new band on the circuit, Ed Holmberg and Dylan Gouert have actually been playing around for almost ten years, finessing a craft that has seen many incarnations.

Father John Misty may be a relatively new project, but the man behind it has been around for a few years now, playing in one of indie music's greatest break-out bands. J. Tillman used to drum for the mighty Pacific-Northwest act Fleet Foxes, but left the group this year to pursue his own endeavors, trading in the rootsy, experimental folk for more of a vintage rock sound.